While individuals with congestive heart failure, or CHF, may take precautions with their cardiovascular health, they may be unaware of the need to guard against mold exposure. Among the features of CHF, breathing disturbances combine with heart problems to limit the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream.
Any environmental circumstance that adds respiratory stress, such as a high airborne mold count, can throw heart patients into a state of acute heart failure. Conversely, the "cardiac asthma" health effects of CHF can exacerbate lung symptoms in patients with mold allergies.
Difficulty Breathing
According to the MayoClinic.com, chronic heart failure causes patients to cough, wheeze and cough up phlegm on a continual basis. This existing reduction in breathing capability can make allergic or nonallergic reactions to mold exposure potential factors in respiratory failure.
As the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, people with chronic respiratory conditions may have trouble breathing when they ingest a certain level of allergenic mold spores. An increase in asthma-like health effects may require emergency oxygen administration in order to preserve lung function. Breathing trouble that swiftly escalates or is accompanied by mental anxiety or sweating should prompt a call for 9-1-1 emergency services.
Fungal Infections
Doctors treat some heart failure cases with intervention or transplant surgery. Following their procedures, surgical patients may sustain lower immune system function, leaving them susceptible to mold infections that affect the lungs, the CDC notes.
Mold spores are tiny enough to inhale into the lungs, where they may lodge and begin to grow. This can cause bleeding and damage the lung tissue on which molds feed, a condition called aspergillosis. In rarer instances, as reported by The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library, these lung infections from mold exposure can spread to other organs, including the heart. Health effects include extreme breathing difficulty, organ failure and death.
CHF Complications
CHF that has progressed may result in permanent pulmonary edema, a condition of fluid in the alveoli tissue of the lungs. Alternatively, this condition can suddenly arise in heart patients in response to an allergic reaction, such as to mold exposure, as the MayoClinic.com reports.
Sudden onset of pulmonary edema in someone with CHF can cause life-threatening changes in the lungs that deprive the heart of oxygen. Immediate health effects include severe breathing restriction that feels like suffocation and audible sounds of fluid in the lungs, such as bubbling. A rapid dip in blood pressure further restricts blood oxygen exchange to the brain. Sweating or a bluish tint to the skin warrants an immediate 9-1-1 call for paramedic treatment.
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